McGinley steers perfect course

When Tom Watson was appointed captain of the US Ryder Cup team he talked openly about having finishers in his team — players capable of closing the deal when the chips were down — and yesterday in the morning fourballs he got his wish.

In truth, the fourballs were a scrappy affair, far from the normal standards you would expect from players of this pedigree, but the matches were, nonetheless, compelling, if only because the US team fed off scraps for much of the morning — just about hanging in there until they finished with a flourish.

2½ to 1½ to the US didn’t seem a fair result for the Europeans but they only had themselves to blame. Quite simply, apart from the superlative partnership of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, they weren’t ruthless enough. They hung around too long and by doing so they allowed the Americans to regain some initiative, which they ultimately exploited in full.

If Paul McGinley was angry — and he would have been very angry — then his body language showed none of it, but he would have known that he needed to steady the boat. Now was the time for him to captain his side. Now was his time to make a difference.

McGinley would have known that his team could not concede any further advantage to an increasingly vocal US team. He needed to win the afternoon session.

In the lead up to the Ryder Cup, McGinley spoke about his team of vice-captains and the collective role they would share in terms of getting Europe over the winning line.

All would be delegated specific responsibilities but none was more important than that of Sam Torrance. His responsibility was to be a psychological sounding board for those players McGinley needed to take out of action and a motivator for those players McGinley wanted to introduce into action after the morning play.

If McGinley had learned anything from his past experiences as both a player and captain then it was the value of proper communication and he knew that Sam’s influence as a former player and a past Ryder Cup captain would be crucial. It was he who had the responsibility to accurately communicate captain McGinley’s message.

Quite what McGinley said to his players before they went out in the afternoon is open to conjecture but suffice it to say that they showed the necessary urgency in the afternoon foursomes from the off, this time closing out a wonderful effort in winning the afternoon session 3½ to ½.

It was also nice to see McGinley had the confidence to play his entire team on the first day as this will have created great harmony in his camp and it is something that will stand to his rookies over the coming days.

In playing all 12 players he has also had the opportunity to accurately study the form of all his players and, with Europe already leading 5-3, that is a strong advantage.

Of all his European players on show, most are in good form with the exception perhaps the local boy Stephen Gallagher and Sergio Garcia. At the start of the day I would have said that the McIlroy-Garcia pairing was great because I felt that Garcia’s consistency would compliment McIlroy’s power game, but throughout the day Garcia looked edgy and somewhat off form. As for Gallagher, I feel Torrance will now be working hard on him, as I don’t see him playing again before tomorrow’s singles.

McIlroy and especially Ian Poulter can count themselves very lucky to be playing this morning and I suspect they are only there because McGinley needs them to find some consistent form before the all-important singles tomorrow.

Quite what US Captain Tom Watson can do now to stop his team’s bleeding is unclear. As a team they have also struggled to get to grips with the course conditions — especially the pace of the greens — and if they continue to do so then I can only see one winner tomorrow.